Boulder, Broomfield firms rank among Inc. 500

Three Boulder firms landed on Inc. magazine's latest rankings of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the United States.

Trada placed No. 27, Populus came in at No. 139 and Quick Left ranked 223rd on the Inc. 500, which measures revenue growth from 2009 to 2012, according to rankings published this week.

Trada, which developed a crowdsourced pay-per-click advertisement marketplace, reported its revenues climbed 8,101 percent to $12.6 million in 2012 from $153,099 in 2009. Trada was founded in 2008.

Populus, a utility and energy management firm founded in 2006, recorded revenue growth of 2,685 percent to $3 million from $108,403.

Quick Left, a firm that develops mobile applications and websites for startups and established businesses, reported its sales grew 1,917 percent to $2.8 million from $139,000 in 2009, the year of its founding.

To qualify for the list, the companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2009. The companies also had to be privately held as of Dec. 31, 2012.

Additionally, nearly 20 other firms from Boulder and Broomfield counties made the magazine's Inc. 5000 rankings.

Listed below are the local companies, three-year growth percentage, 2012 revenues, employees and location are as follows:

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